What is the role of publishing industry in supporting and promoting isiZulu fiction?
Date
2014-07-24
Authors
Magudulela, Veronica Winile Mirriam
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Abstract
The purpose of this research project was to investigate the role of the publishing industry in supporting and promoting isiZulu fiction in South Africa. The research first highlighted the contribution made by the missionaries in the 19th century in publishing literature in indigenous languages in general and in isiZulu fiction in particular. This aspect followed by a discussion of the impact of apartheid’s publishing policies on literature in indigenous African languages. This section then followed by the discussion of the strategies and initiatives that have been introduced in order to preserve and promote this literary tradition in the post-apartheid period.
This research assessed OUPSA’s book chain process in order to investigate how the book industry contributes to the post-1994 initiatives of promoting creative writing in indigenous languages. It argued that book publishing is not the end of the book provision process, instead marketing and distribution chain, selection of fiction in schools and libraries, lack of experience of librarians, shortage of African languages fiction and financial resources in libraries as well as inconclusiveness of government policies play a huge role in the distribution process of isiZulu fiction which is pivotal to the sustainable existence of a publishing industry. In this research project, different aspects of the book chain process were investigated, such as: publishing and distribution, schools and public libraries, schools and education and literacy level to find out the link between publishing and libraries and schools.
It is hoped that the findings of the investigation identified the significant inhibiting factors which may prevent the provision of isiZulu fiction books to libraries and schools that may have been caused by the methods in which books were commissioned, marketing strategies and implementation of the language policy, especially as to how it affects the promotion and rejuvenation of literatures in African languages.
Description
Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, African Literature, 2014.
Keywords
Commissioning process, book chain, publishing and distribution, public libraries, schools and education, language policy, literacy levels and publishers